


At The End Of All Things

by nu_breed



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-08
Updated: 2011-02-08
Packaged: 2017-10-15 12:07:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/160679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nu_breed/pseuds/nu_breed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur always brings him back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At The End Of All Things

**Author's Note:**

> Futurefic with spoilers for Season Three. Minor Character Death. Thanks to Lindsay for the beta.

When the last enemy soldier is dead, Arthur finds him slumped over in the middle of the battlefield. Merlin is knee-deep in blood, surrounded by too many bodies to count. The ground around him is blackened and charred and smells of death. His face is drawn, tired, and Arthur thinks they have both seen more pain and suffering in one battle than most men will see in an entire lifetime.

Arthur has been wounded in the fight; but unlike Merlin, his wounds are visible. Mostly.

When he reaches him, Arthur can hear Merlin whisper the beginnings of a spell under his breath, the words so familiar now that Arthur recognises them instantly. Merlin lifts his hand to strike again, but Arthur stills him, grabs him by the forearms as he sinks to his knees, joining Merlin in the dirt.  
“It’s over. You hear me, Merlin? It’s done.”

Merlin just stares at him, his eyes glazed over. Eventually though, he drops his hand and touches his palm to the earth. Murmurs softly, “It’ll never be over.”

“You’ve done enough.” Arthur’s voice sounds harsh out loud, and he wants to kick himself for the look he’s just put on Merlin’s face.

“I did it for you,” Merlin says, his head still bowed.

“I know.” Arthur makes sure he sounds gentle this time, and he lifts Merlin’s chin with as much tenderness as he can muster, “And now you can stop for me, too.”

“What if I can’t?” Merlin drops his gaze, and it feels like resignation. “What if I’m just like them, Arthur? Dark and twisted and wrong. Mordred was just a child once. Morgana...”

Arthur flinches. He thinks that maybe one day he’ll be able to hear her name without it making him sick to his stomach, or wanting to hit something. At least it’s better than before though, he won’t be wasting his tears on her again, or hoping against all hope that she can be saved. He nods for Merlin to carry on.

“She came to me once, you know. Before. I could’ve...” Merlin’s eyes close and it’s as if it’s too painful to even continue. He inhales, in and out and opens his eyes again, slowly.

“It’s not your fault,” Arthur assures him, “she couldn’t. We couldn’t have brought her back.” Arthur tries to ignore the memory so perfectly preserved in his head. His sister torturing him without so much as laying a hand on him. Her fingers merely clutching at air, but to Arthur, it had felt as if knives were plunging into his flesh.

Merlin had snapped her neck with just a flick of his wrist, without even the slightest hesitation.  
“I wanted to make her suffer,” Merlin says, as if he can read Arthur’s mind, “and I could have, too.”

Arthur doesn’t doubt that for a second. “What stopped you?”

“You.”

“Well of course,” Arthur smiles, just a little, and it’s as much as he can manage, given the circumstances, “I always told you you’d never meet a more amazing human being.”

Merlin snorts, “Still an arrogant, supercilious prat if I ever met one, too.”

Arthur knows though, regardless, that Merlin had been telling the truth. It _is_ Arthur that stops him every time it’s like this. He knows it would kill Merlin if Arthur looked at him the way his father would have, like a monster. Arthur makes him want to be human. At the end of it all, Arthur is Merlin’s salvation, and that’s why Merlin will never be Morgana.

But Merlin is his salvation too.

Arthur traces Merlin’s cheekbones with his thumbs, and they feel so much more hollowed out than before. He makes a silent promise that when they return to Camelot; he’s going to force-feed Merlin until his face starts to fill out again.

“You know I’m right,” he says, his lips brushing Merlin’s cheek, “just accept it.”

“Is that an order?”

Merlin’s tone is about as insolent as it always has been, and it makes Arthur snort. The idea of Merlin obeying an order would have been laughable when they first met, and it’s absolutely ludicrous at this point in time.

“I should put you over my knee right here and now,” Arthur breathes into Merlin’s ear.

“I’d like to see you try in your current state. _Sire_.”

Merlin grins, that bloody irritating wide grin that makes Arthur’s stomach flip every single time, and for a moment it makes Arthur see the boy he used to know. The utterly useless, completely incompetent git who could barely walk down the hallway without stumbling, or pour wine without getting it everywhere but in Arthur’s goblet. The boy who blushed from head to foot the first time Arthur drunkenly propositioned him, but who made up for his lack of experience in the bedroom with boundless enthusiasm that left Arthur feeling completely exhausted.

It’s difficult to reconcile that Merlin with the one in front of him now, because this Merlin is strong and fierce and capable and can kill with less effort than it takes Arthur to kill a fly. It should be more than a little frightening to comprehend, but Arthur has never been afraid of Merlin even when he has been afraid _for_ him.

Arthur doesn’t love this Merlin any less, and he ruffles his hair like he always used to, before saying, “It’s just as well you didn’t make more of a mess than you could have. You’re going to be working all night as it is. My armour is in such a state, and my boots need polishing and.”

Merlin reaches forward and cuts him off with a kiss, murmuring, “Shut up, your majesty,” against Arthur’s lips.

Arthur wants to protest that it’s treasonous to speak to one’s king in such a way, and that maybe it’s about time that Merlin met his old friend, the stocks, again. He’d never say it though, and even if he did Merlin wouldn’t listen, so he just laughs, and kisses him back instead.


End file.
